The lost late eighties college rock interzone

Come to think of it, a lot of these labels perished with the music itself (DB, Enigma, Restless, C/Z, and so on).

i did love come. they were post-grunge though. some people got back on their horses post-grunge. didn't love thalia in live skull though.

Sorry that link doesn't work. It's in the poll for The Lion and the Cobra.

enigma put out so much shitty stuff too. even the non-major labels were the pits by 87.

My interest wasn't really about why it's not being revived but why the tenor of that time in indie rock, the counter-cultural aspect and the seriousness of it, was lost and has remained lost.

― timellison, Wednesday, June 27, 2012 11:45 AM (58 seconds ago)

honestly, i think the countercultural seriousness of that era was channeled into the mainstream by the likes of sonic youth and nirvana, and eventually came to something of a bad end. independence became an alternative, a style, and it quickly came to seem meaningless, its meaningless hypocrisy all the more galling for the countercultural pretenses it wore so proudly. 90s indie hung onto certain "college rock" musical approaches, developed them into something populist, but for the most part ditched the embarrassing politics along the way, and here we are.

Weird thing is I grew up in a small farm town, do I never really *heard* a lot of this stuff, but I read about it in odd rolling stone reviews or spin or option, or - especially - request magazine which you got free at musicland but was surprisingly good I thought

Really loved Thalia in Live Skull. Saw 'em twice and the guitars were incredible, plus they had a really powerful drummer.

Hmm does Eleventh Dream Day fit this?

If they do, then I'd also include Green, who kicked around the Chicago indie scene around the same time.

Like to this day I've never heard guadalcanal diary

Like to this day I've never heard guadalcanal diary

2x4 is nice. Check it out.

enigma put out so much shitty stuff too. even the non-major labels were the pits by 87.

― scott seward, Wednesday, June 27, 2012 11:53 AM (28 seconds ago)

strongly disagree w this. i could easily list 20 or 30 good-to-great records that came out of the college/indie hinterlands for every every year from 84 through 92.

honestly, i think the countercultural seriousness of that era was channeled into the mainstream by the likes of sonic youth and nirvana, and eventually came to something of a bad end. independence became an alternative, a style, and it quickly came to seem meaningless, its meaningless hypocrisy all the more galling for the countercultural pretenses it wore so proudly. 90s indie hung onto certain "college rock" musical approaches, developed them into something populist, but for the most part ditched the embarrassing politics along the way, and here we are.

I'm not just talking counter-cultural politics, though. I mean, I would agree with you there. But I'm talking more about counter-cultural aesthetics and lifestyle - like genuine bohemianism. That's what I miss.

but for the most part ditched the embarrassing politics along the way, and here we are.

Dude, songs about Central America will never get old.

would kill to have pdfs of every issue of OPtion...

end of the 80's the cool american labels were touch & go and amrep and sub pop and they were basically all preparing the world for grunge.

I'm not just talking counter-cultural politics, though. I mean, I would agree with you there. But I'm talking more about counter-cultural aesthetics and lifestyle - like genuine bohemianism. That's what I miss.

― timellison, Wednesday, June 27, 2012 1:56 PM (47 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

There are totally kids that still do that, like old victorian houses in bad neighborhoods with a couch on the porch and bands practicing in the basement...that never stopped, at least in minneapolis

"strongly disagree w this. i could easily list 20 or 30 good-to-great records that came out of the college/indie hinterlands for every every year from 84 through 92."

i didn't say there was NO good music coming out, but 1979 to 1984 there was something amazing coming out every five minutes. naming twenty good indie rock records for any given year isn't that hard. but it got harder as time went on!

2x4 is nice. Check it out.

walking in the shadow of the big man, too

caterwaul album

A friend reminded me about them just the other day, hadn't thought about them in 20 years. I really liked Pin & Web and they were great live.

Scott otm in that late 80s college rock was indeed a weird time for those of us who had been listening to the "new music" for a decade. It was kind of the tail end of the 'lets get in a van and tour rock clubs' era, or it was for me, and I think the attention shifted to whatever the major labels were signing and MTV was playing, much of which just wasn't good.

if you don't care about genre so much then it doesn't really matter. younger tim ellison should have been buying bohemian jungle brothers records. or one of the four zillion amazing bohemian house music singles that came out between 1987 and 1990.

There are totally kids that still do that, like old victorian houses in bad neighborhoods with a couch on the porch and bands practicing in the basement...that never stopped, at least in minneapolis

Yeah, I don't think it ever stopped either, but the late '80s were a time where college radio rock was a real vanguard for this that had a bit of a zeitgeist to it.

Ah, I was just a kid that liked rock music and I was busy enough!

"But I'm talking more about counter-cultural aesthetics and lifestyle - like genuine bohemianism. That's what I miss."

dude, come hang with us here in western mass. the best farm shares, weed, and basement noise scene on the east coast.

caterwaul album

A friend reminded me about them just the other day, hadn't thought about them in 20 years. I really liked Pin & Web and they were great live.

yeah I was a fan of that band, but that record in particular.

Dude, songs about Central America will never get old.

― kornrulez6969, Wednesday, June 27, 2012 11:57 AM (4 minutes ago)

yeah, i meant the implicit cultural politics more than the protest songs. you know, "corporate rock still sucks" as an ethos, the naive but reassuring idea that by living a haphazard postcollegiate life and listening to weird music one might strike a blow against empire (or at least prepare to). m@tt's right that that kind of thing never really went away, but it did start to defend its isolation a bit more carefully in the wake of "alternative nation". noize, drones, etc.

i dunno still want to smash the empire, that hasn't died at all

i do, that is

the difference between firehose and the minutemen illustrates how college rock got earnest and dull in the late 80s

i knew people would say nice things about caterwaul. i just knew it.

sad but true xp

if you don't care about genre so much then it doesn't really matter. younger tim ellison should have been buying bohemian jungle brothers records. or one of the four zillion amazing bohemian house music singles that came out between 1987 and 1990.

― scott seward, Wednesday, June 27, 2012 12:04 PM (3 minutes ago)

i loved straight out the jungle and done by the forces of nature, but you've gotta leave something to catch up on later.

didn't a fair number of college rock bands turn toward hard rock or roots rock as the decade wore on? some convincingly like the meat puppets some not like the dream syndicate

I'm listening to Real Estate right now and it doesn't remind me of college radio 1986-1989 at all. I guess I can see it, in a Pandora "this song is in a minor key, features both electric and acoustic instruments, and is played at medium tempo" kind of way, but you'd never mistake it for something of that vintage. It's too sprightly.

Yeah, there was a lot to catch up on as it was! Like, I really remember buying No New York and Pere Ubu's Terminal Tower comp during these years and Can and the double album Swell Maps comp and it all kind of fit in with what was going on at the time.

^ bought all those albums between 85 and 92

Also, somebody mentioned the Connells upthread and indeed they stand as a very good exemplar of the kind of record that died unnoticed. Except I still stand by my decision to listen to 80s Connells records a lot. Their sound did survive into the early 1990s in the form of the Judybats' superb debut album, and for all I know, it's still hanging on in the college towns of the upper South. I sort of hope so!

And Palace of Swords Reversed!

it just helps if you are an omnivore. people always say that rock was so sad and tired in the early 60's and the beatles made everything right again (just like nirvana made everything right again), but if you were a soul or jazz fan in the early 60's the beatles didn't make anything better for you. you already had it pretty good. so new wave and post punk and college rock started getting tiresome in the late 80's or started losing steam but really there was so much amazing stuff happening it didn't really matter (to me). though like i said i did go looking for some undie guitar fixes (and got burned) but i found a few. then again i had death and grind in my life so i was kinda good every which way. who needs to fret about lesser jesus & mary chain records when there is a new carcass record out?

this was a dull time for a middle school kid (female, no siblings) who relied on the radio, magazines, the library, and occasionally mtv for new information
speaking of omnivorism, i had a lot more fun when i listened to old music during those years (was super into 50s rock) and preferred retro leaning stuff (b52s, etc) because the present was such a bummer (and also that's what the library had)

At least in Miami we had non stop freestyle from 1986 through 1990: Company B, Nayobe, Stevie B, Sweet Sensation pummeling you all day.

(was super into 50s rock)

^^^ totally this for me. Late 80s was when I stopped listening to The Replacements and started listening to Smiley Lewis.

Retromania!

Actually with that in mind where do the Chickasaw Mudd Puppies and the Spanic Boys fit in?

How you know this interzone existed in no uncertain terms? Drivin' N Cryin' actually achieved popularity—something akin to standing thigh deep in the shallow end.

sounds like a Minutemen song

Also if Tim is talking earnestness/seriousness, hard to ignore Michelle Shocked, the Indigo Girls, etc.

I was surprised a few weeks ago to find that Michelle Shocked is still at it. Good for her.

hey jack white made a lot of money ripping the 80's retromania of gun club and flat duo jets.

and 10,000 Maniacs!

hey i heard that michelle shocked is still alive. good one, michelle!